John Tory slammed for pulling out of debates on transit, seniors issues

John Tory has dropped out of three mayoral debates scheduled for this week, with his election team citing "extraordinary demands on his time" as the campaign enters "a new phase."

A press release issued by his campaign at 2:55 pm on Monday confirmed that he was pulling out of a debate organized by transit advocacy group TTCRiders in conjunction with the Ryerson Students Union. It was scheduled for 5 pm later that day on the university campus. (NOW Magazine's Senior News Editor Enzo DiMatteo was supposed to act as moderator).

The release also said Tory had withdrawn from a debate organized by the Better Living Health and Community Centre, which was to focus on seniors' issues, and from another set up by the York and Bathurst Quay Neighbourhood Associations, which was to centre on the future of the waterfront. Both were scheduled for Tuesday.

"John has attended 22 debates since the campaign began and he will attend many more before October 27," the press release said. "With Doug Ford entering the race and less than six weeks to go until election day, we have entered a new phase of the campaign. John has extraordinary demands on his time and, unfortunately, we are unable to accommodate every event and request."

Tory is still scheduled to appear at a debate Monday at 7 pm at St. Andrew's Church at King and Simcoe.

Jesse Root, VP Education for the Ryerson Students' Union, says that Tory's team first confirmed he would be at the TTCRiders debate over a month ago, and on Saturday recommitted to the event. But around 2 p.m. on Monday his spokesperson called to say he couldn't make it. By then, organizers had already invested "countless hours" putting the debate together, Root said, and hired security and technical help that will cost hundreds of dollars, paid for out of student fees.

"I was extremely frustrated" by the cancellation, says Root, who doesn't believe that Tory had a scheduling conflict. "I believe that he truly doesn't care about students or community members who rely on TTC. This is the only transit debate that we're aware of, and certainly the only transit debate in which there is a student focus. So we're really disappointed that he's not taking the civic engagement of young people and transit riders into consideration."

Doug Ford, who entered the election on Friday after his brother Mayor Rob Ford pulled out due to health reasons, declined an invitation to the debate. David Soknacki had planned to attend but he dropped out of the campaign last week. That left Olivia Chow as the only participant, and Root said the "debate" would go on with just her in attendance.

William Krever, the CEO of Better Living Health and Community Services, says his organization might cancel Tuesday's debate. According to Krever, Tory agreed five months ago to participate, and BLHCS spent $2,500 to $3,000 organizing the event. About 120 seniors had planned to attend.

"If you make a commitment to do something, you need to follow through. It's an hour and half of their time, it's not a big commitment," said Krever, who is trying to convince Tory to reverse his cancellation.

In a press release, Chow's campaign slammed Tory for the cancellations, accusing him of running away from questions about "his make-it-up-as-he-goes transit plan."

"I'd run away too if I had to pass back-of-the-napkin silliness off as a real plan, up against someone who knows far more," said Chow's communications director, Jamey Heath, who also criticized Tory for skipping a Ryerson students Q and A scheduled for Monday.

With six weeks left before the October 27 vote, polls have consistently placed Tory as the frontrunner. It's not unusual for leading candidates to limit their public exposure in the final weeks of a campaign in order to avoid potentially damaging missteps, and Tory is facing increasing skepticism about his SmartTrack transit proposal, which is the foundation of his campaign.

When Rob Ford reneged on a commitment to debate fellow mayoral candidate George Smitherman in 2010, Smitherman had a campaign volunteer dress up in a chicken suit and follow him around.